12 AR.T -Cont'd she boated, she bicycled, she played tennis, she drove, she partied, and she married Of course, all of these pursuits demanded differ- ent costumes, and Charles Dana Gibson's turn-of-the-century drawings created the kind of versatile mystique that would make Calvin Klein fall off his horse The Gibson Girl's heyday, from 1895 to 1905, is celebrat- ed in this show of fourteen full costumes, along with drawings, photographs, and mem- orabilia. (Open daily, except Mondays, 10 to 5; Sundays, 1 to 5 ) NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, Fifth Ave at 42nd St. - "The Age of Atlantic Discoveries," an ex- hibit devoted to Portugal's pioneering mari- time exploration, notably of Brazil, and its impact on European culture Maps, treaties, and navigational instruments from the mid- fifteenth century to the late ixteenth are on display, along with manuscripts, letters, and paintings. Through Sept. 1. (Gottesman Ex- hibition Hall. Open daily, except Sundays, 10 to 6 ) ISAMU NOGUCHI GARDEN MUSEUM, 32-37 Vernon Blvd., at 33rd Road, Long Island City- Noguchi (1904-88), one of the twentieth century's singular talents, designed this oasis for more than two hundred and fifty of hi sculptures. It contains a wide range of his work-from the early surrealistic biomorphic sculptures to several types of stone carvings -and documentation of his prodigious pub- lic art. The centerpiece of the museum is a peaceful, ivy-walled garden dotted with the artist's works (Open Wednesdays and Satur- days, 11 to 6.) QUEENS MUSEUM, Flushing Meadow Park- <<The Expressionist Surface" It is doubtful that this show of contemporary art in plaster will result in increa ed sales of the material But no matter how silly the exhibition is, it is probably worth a visit, if only to see several superb early George Segal sculptures, from 1958, a clear reminder of his roots in Ab- stract Expressionism. There are also a few works from the late fifties and early sixties by the Bay Area sculptor Manuel Neri, a fine, underrated artist whose best side is perhaps not so visible here. But most of the work by the fourteen other artists is clearly in the shadow of Segal, lacking the poignant restraint and poetic dignity of the master himself. Their pieces are little more than cheap expressions of creepy emotional real- ism-the sculptural equivalent of the most obvious sort of expressionistIc painting. Through Aug. 26. (Open Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 to 5; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 :30.) THE DECADE SHow-A collaborative event, orga- nized by three institutions, that is richer for the issues it raises than for the art it contains. It is divided according to themes, two per venue By far the most cohesive installation is at the Studio Museum, where Group Material and Barbara Kruger seem to be the only ones to have '\: addressed the complex issues of the show, and where each work-by whites, African-Amencan::, (Ham- mons, Colescott, Edwards), and His- panics (Azaceta)-is installed to look as good as it is Through Aug. 18 The exhibition runs concurrently at THE NEW MUSEUM, 583 Broadway (open Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sun- days, noon to 6; Fridays and Satur- days, noon to 8); the MUSEUM OF CON- t ., TEMPORARY HISPANIC ART, 584 Broadway J (open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sat- urdays, 11 to 5, Thur day and Fri- days, 11 to 8); and the STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM, 144 W 125th St. (open Wed- nesdays through Fridays, 10 to 5; Sat- urdays and Sundays, 1 to 6). A free shuttle bus runs between SoHo and Harlem on each Saturday during the show. GALLERIES-57TH STREET AREA (U nless otherwise noted, galleries are open Mondays through Fridays from around 10 or 11 to between 5 and 6 ) "REDISCOVERING POMPEII"- The mood of this show of recent excavations is fascinating and bizarre. Viewers in the darkened rooms of the main exhibition space are greeted by a recessed, circular pit containing a uWoman from Oplontis," whose painfully contorted remains are cast in resin Among the many gorgeous and refined objects here is an espe- cially dazzling '<Bronze Hand from the Cult of Sabazius." It not only rivals Donatello but also serves as one of the very few overt examples of the Pompeians' focus on sex- their unabashed and very famous erotica was a cornerstone of daily life. This fact is dis- creetly mentioned in the exhibition, yet only Sabazius' busy hand and one Augustine phal- 1 us, it seems, were considered fit for our eyes in this age. Through Sept. 15. (I.B.M. Gallery of Science and Art, Madison Ave. at 56th St Closed Mondays; open Saturdays.) "Rediscovering Pompeii" "DETRITUS" A show of work in mixed mediums by twelve artists that addresses what is per- haps the subject of the year. Unfortunately, the treatment is a bit, well, spotty. There are some glaring omissIons, such as Cady Noland's lyrical trash assemblages, and a couple of tired inclusions, such as one of Bruce Nauman's over-familiar waxen uSkinned Cats." But looking at a summer show with an ambitious theme often means having to take what can be got, and we do get Tony Cragg, a brilliant old hand at gar- bage if there ever was one, along wIth prom- ising young rag-pickers like Jessica Stock- holder-represented here by two-by-fours sporting wigs and newsprint-and Curtis Mitchell, whose piece consists of a distressed- velvet drape with a stain Also on display are Alan Belcher's very direct "Spit on Mink," Georg Herold's ethereally icky ((Caviar Painting," Matthew McCaslin's site-specific plumbing-pipe construction, Kevin Carter's faux mummy, and one of Petah Coyne's darkly brooding, mutant hornets' nests. Through Aug. 31. (Tilton, 24 W. 57th St.) " " . ß di- ff '" Æ 4> . i # '" 'it . :.. l?#'lF ..ø ,t'^ .<^ . //'. ""w> {$ ,"4"" " ""- >.1> .t , . Doghouses at the Cooper-Hewitt GROUP SHows-At GALERIE ST. ETIENNE, 24 W. 57th St.. Recent gallery acquisitions by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, George Grosz, Max Klinger, Käthe Kollwitz, various Wiener Werkstätte artists, and the redoubtable Sue Coe. Seeing Coe in proximity to Kollwitz is especially interesting. They are nearly exact opposites though both aim for essentially the same expressionistic, empathic, and incrimi- nating effects. Where Kollwitz distills al1 sorrows into <<universal," quasi-ecclesiastical images-bereft mothers, work-worn hands- Coe hits our collective jugular through the journalistic precision of her slaughterhouse scenes and the fierce theatrics of her allego- ries, which are always of highly specific evils. Through Aug. 31. (Closed Mondays.) _ _ . MARIAN GOODMAN, 24 W 57th St.: A handsome show of gal1ery artists and a few others Many of the pieces have a surrealistic edge. Claes Oldenburg's sculpture of a heel yanked from a shoe; Rebecca Horn's contraption that dusts a pair of nipple-soled sneakers with pink face powder; Richard Artschwager's Formica-and-metal quasi-musical instru- ment; newcomer Juan Muñoz's bronze lady in a bowl with podlike arms and brass-bell hands; and even Giuseppe Penone's bronze leaves pressed between wood branches. But other qualities are evident as well. Lothar Baumgarten's installation is a touching but somewhat tricky portrait of the railroads that helped shape this country and annihi- late the native population in the process, and Thomas Struth's magnetic photograph of a conservator at work in a Naples cathedral manages to be both documentary and oper- atic Through Aug. 31.. . . KENT, 41 E. 57th St.: A very tasteful but uneven selection of works spanning three decades. The show in- cl udes three two-tone panels by the hermetic and underviewed British painter Peter J 0- seph. Troy Brauntuch's quintessential white- pencil drawing from 1981 of hard-to-read fascistic statuary suggests that a reëvalua- tion of this artist, once hot but now not, should be undertaken Then there are a series of off works by some of New York's more singular talents: a feeble attempt by the poetic Justen Ladda to be an easel painter, and a perplexing Artschwager piece called "Gorilla," which looks like little more than a rack of gorilla-shaped toast Through Aug. 10. . . . PACE, 32 E. 57th St.: This gallery has perfected the art of display. In this show, a first-rate assortment of minimal and mini- malist paintings, all from the "right" dates -a red Reinhardt, a blue-and-green Kelly, a masking-tape Ryman, a 1974 Mangold, and an exquisitely grayed Marden, among others -surrounds the exhibition's only gestural work, a luscious orange de Kooning from 1978, which, rather than confounding the finely honed selection, gives it body Through Aug. 24 GALLERIES-SoHo Y,SHA, JUSIDMAN- Well-executed, Old Masterish landscapes painted on spheres mounted on metal poles. Although the works are very romantic and somewhat sophisticated, they are also gimmicky-mere landscapes on sticks. Through Aug. 17. (Shainman, 560 Broadway) CHRISTOPHER WooL-Large paintings on paper, of either a Penckian phoenix or what might be described as a black putto done in .. I the racist style of nineteen-thirties Hol- lywood movies. The two images are arranged in various combinations-sin- gly, in pairs, as friezes. The paintings are smart-ass, cynical works about the state of originality and the role of the artist in today's art world, but they are also surprisingly penetrating and pack a hard punch. Through Sept. 12. Luhring Augustine, 130 Prince St.) 'INSIDE THE BEAST" -This selection of gritty works from the eighties could also be called '<Colab, Lower East Side, Summer of ' 7 9." Included are several John Ahearns painted plaster busts that are among the artist's most ani- mated; one badly damaged piece is ac- companied by a photo of it in the Garcia-family home before it was de- stroyed by fire. And several works by David Wojnarowicz display different sides of this passionate political com- mentator. Through Aug. 23. (Lucien, 555 Broadway.) "THE THING IrSELF"- This exhibition of "art in which the integrity of found objects remains intact during both the making and the viewing of the work" has a nice rhythm to it Among the more compelling inclusions are a Mike Kelley stuffed-animal sculpture titled '<Double Flaccid Cat" and a Ken Lum piece with two ordinary love seats stacked and facing a corner. The most intriguing work is a Robert Gober from the late seventies, in which a model of a Greek Revival mansion is cut in half and slammed -< ! 'f' { ,)#